and established a system of national defence both by land and sea.

His good government and true patriotism endeared him to his subjects; and though, no doubt, there is much exaggeration in the stories told concerning him, wę cannot wonder that his memory was dear to our forefathers, and that he deserved, more than other kings, the title of "The Great."

Alfred died in 901, and was succeeded by his son Edward, whose reign was chiefly occupied in the thorough subjugation of the Danish settlers in Northumbria and East Anglia.

He was succeeded in 925 by Athelstan, who was the first Saxon monarch that assumed the title of King of England; for Egbert and Alfred had only been styled Kings of the West-Saxons. In 937 a large Danish army invaded England, but it was defeated by Athelstane at the battle of Brunnanburgh, so celebrated in Saxon song. Edmund and Edred, the brothers of Athelstane, reigned in succession. In 955, Edwy, the son of Edmund, ascended the throne. His reign is chiefly remarkable for the contest he engaged in with Dunstan, an able, ambitious, but unscrupulous monk, who was created Archbishop of Canterbury in 960. It was the great design of Dunstan's life to reduce the Anglo-Saxon church to complete subjection to Rome; to prohibit the marriage of priests, and increase the power of the Church. Edgar succeeded Edwy in 958, and he in turn was succeeded by Edward the Martyr, in 973. Ethelred, the next king, was crowned in 978, at the age of ten years; his reign was long and unforHe did not possess the affections of his sub

tunate.

jects; for he was a careless ruler, fonder of his own pleasure than of his people's welfare. The Northmen re-appeared on the coast of England, and instead of fighting them, Ethelred purchased their retreat by the payment (in 991) of 10,000 pounds of silver. To raise this sum he imposed an odious tax, which received the name of Dane-gelt. But the Danes, seeing the weakness of England, returned in greater numbers, and exacted still larger sums.

The English, driven to despair by these wasting invasions, determined to revenge themselves by a massacre of the Danes who were already settled in England. On the 13th of November, 1002, the unsuspecting Danes were every where attacked by the English, and put to death, with their wives and children. The sister of Sweyn, King of Denmark, perished in this massacre; and her brother soon after landed with a vast army to take vengeance on England. During four years the country was given up to the cruelty of the Danes, till in 1007, Sweyn consented to retire, in consideration of a vast sum of money, to pay which the country was almost ruined.

In 1015 Sweyn returned, determined to complete the conquest of the country. Ethelred was deserted by the nobles and a great part of the people, and compelled to flee to Normandy, and Sweyn was proclaimed king. Sweyn died shortly after this, and was succeeded in the government of England by his son Canute. Ethelred renewed the contest, but died 1016. His son Edmund, surnamed Ironside, vigorously opposed Canute, and attempted to confine him to the north of England. 1017, it was agreed that Canute and Edmund should

In

divide the country between them,-Canute ruling the north, and Edmund the south.

On Edmund's death, in the same year, Canute assumed the throne of the whole country, with the consent of the nation, who had no wish to renew the bloody and hopeless contest.

CHAP. V.

THE DANES, AND RESTORATION OF THE SAXON LINE

CANUTE ruled England prudently, and without opposition. Both he and the Danes were little acquainted with the doctrines of Christianity; and though many of them had been baptized, they preserved their heathen rites. These Canute exerted himself to suppress, and rebuilt many of the churches which had been destroyed during the preceding contests. His endeavour was to incorporate the Danes with the English, and to treat both nations with impartiality. He punished severely all infractions of the law, and gradually uprooted the habits of plunder to which the Danes had been accustomed. Dying in 1035, he was succeeded by his son Harold, surnamed Harefoot. In this reign Edward, the son of Edmund Ironside, made an unsuccessful attempt to regain his father's kingdom.

In 1040, Hardicanute, Harold's brother, ascended the throne. He was the son of Canute, by Emma, the

widow of Edmund Ironside. He is described as of a mild and generous character, and a good governor; but his reign was very short. He died in 1042, leaving no children, and thus the Danish line of kings became extinct.

The great Earl Godwin, on the death of Hardicanute, rose in the assembly of thanes and bishops, and proposed to recall Edward, the Saxon heir of the throne, from exile. This proposal was unanimously agreed to, and, amidst the joy of the nation, Edward was crowned king. He married Editha, daughter of Godwin, and was obliged to augment the already enormous power of that earl, and his six sons, who among them governed the whole country south of the Trent like absolute sovereigns. The king endeared himself to the people by reducing the taxation, and, as danger from the Danes was no longer to be apprehended, he abolished the most hateful impost of all— Dane-gelt. Under his rule, most of the ancient Saxon customs were revived, and, it is said, he published a new code of just and equal laws. So much was he regarded as the new founder of the Saxon constitution, that in after times, when suffering under Norman oppression, the English longed for the re-establishment of the good King Edward's laws. As Edward had been educated at the Norman court, he had a great fondness for Normans, their language and manners; and, contrary to the inclinations of the people, he surrounded himself with a Norman court, and conferred his favours on men of that nation. This was displeasing more especially to Godwin and his sons, who quarrelled with the king, and took up arms to compel him to dismiss all his

Norman favourites. Godwin's power was not now what it had once been; and when Edward summoned him to appear at the Witenagemot (or national council), and on his refusal to do so, banished him and his sons, he retired from England without making any resistance. The king, released from the awe he had always felt in Earl Godwin's presence, put no restraint on his affection for the Normans, who flocked over in greater shoals than ever, to make their fortunes in England.

In 1052, Godwin, encouraged by the discontent this conduct occasioned, returned to England, and compelled Edward to restore him and his sons to their former power. Godwin did not long survive his success; but his son Harold took the place his father had filled, and became the second man in the kingdom. Edward had all his life been distinguished for the piety, which in that age expressed itself in lavish donations to the Church, abstinence from enjoyments, and rigorous penance. As he grew older, his devotion increased, and he received from the monkish writers of the period the appellation of "Confessor."

As he had no children, he brought over the son of Edmund Ironside, his half-brother, that he might appoint a successor. This gave great umbrage to Harold, who had been accustomed to look on the crown as his own by right.

But another vigilant eye was fixed on the events occurring in England. William, Duke of Normandy, the most martial prince of his age, had conceived hopes of adding England to his dominions. Edward, when an exile at the Norman court, seems to have given some encouragement to William's ambitious views, and (as